Okay, I¹ll play luffberry with you for a bit.

I agree with your point... FAC(A) may not the A-6¹s best mission. Night
interdiction was certainly the primary mission for the Intruder. AND since
it retired in 1997, I find this thread nothing more than a fun ³what might
have been² discussion.

But... And here¹s the fun part... The majority of the answer depends on what
sort of war we¹re fighting. If we¹re fighting the standard rollback
campaign, it will eventually degrade to CAS as the ground forces push in
close to the enemy. If the war is successful, deep strike interdiction
opportunities become fewer and CAS or SCAR becomes more prevalent.

That¹s where a FAC(A) Intruder with lengthy on-station time and lots of
rockets works. He helps pick out the targets, keeps an eye on the troop
movements and friendlies, and talks his buddies¹ eyes onto the hostiles on
the ground. Intruder... Would have been perfect for the mission.
Meanwhile, bring in the SLUF¹s or the Hornets to drop ordnance and generate
the actual CAS sorties.

--Woody

On 11/13/05 5:55 PM, in article , "Mike
Kanze" wrote:

Woody,

Of course, it’s academic now, but rockets would have made the A-6 a pretty
decent FAC(A) platform.

Again, no argument here.

My point remains, though. Unless there's NOTHING else available, why tie up a
system-centric weapon (like the A-6 was) in a mission where the only "system"
needed is the MK1 eyeball and its owner's ability to successfully prosecute a
rocket attack?

The "NOTHING else available" qualifier goes almost without saying. It's why we
carried and trained with FFARs ad even Sidewinders occasionally, it's why the
A-6 community fooled around with the SSSC mission in the mid-1970s (backup for
the Hoovers in the very new and then-unproven CV airwing concept), it's why we
hung buddy stores on A-7 wing parent stations, etc. It's also why the Tom
became an attack platform, as you point out.

IOW, good to know that you had the capability, but not something you should do
as a normal course of business.

Hey, let the SLUFs have a bit of fun, too.